Matthias Luehers, Head, Region Overseas, at Mercedes-Benz Cars on Wednesday said that the German luxury brand sees ‘big growth potential’ in India, driven by the introduction of a wide range of products, besides an expected shift in society towards being consumption-driven, as opposed to savings-driven currently.
Replying to a query on the luxury market having been stagnant in India for the past couple of years, Mr. Luehers noted that with the exception of China and Europe, the luxury market has stagnated globally due to political and economic situations.
However, “we are sure that after a stagnation always comes the mountain again... we are very bullish and optimistic that in India we will see the mountain.”
Martin Schwenk, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India added that the company expects that in the future, the generation that is growing up now will want to spend earnings on themselves.
Spending more
“One of the differentiating elements to many of his [Mr. Luehers] markets where consumption has a stronger foothold, India is traditionally a saving economy.... we would expect over time to see a change in society and cultural aspects that people would want to spend also more on themselves.”
The German luxury carmaker, which will kick off its electric vehicle journey in India with the launch of electric SUV EQC model in April, said the company will be importing the car as of now.
“We are introducing the EQC in the (Indian) market. We are quite bullish on this segment. What we see today is a GST advantage in selling fully electric vehicles,” Mr. Luehrs said.
